Contents

Route

Cutting at first across the northern flank of the disused South Derbyshire coalfield, the non-primary A514 once formed a useful link from the local collieries to the city of Derby. It originally began at a crossroads, now bypassed, on the A444 (in the 1920s the A511) near Gresley railway station. From here the road climbed a long steep hill to Church Gresley, and on to the Clock Garage (a local landmark) on the A511 at Woodville.

Cadley Hill - Chellaston

The modern A514 leaves the A444 at Cadley Hill roundabout, close to the site of the former colliery. A new feeder road takes the A514 into Swadlincote before climbing up past the remnants of heavy industry and extensive re-landscaping to join the original route at the Clock. The road deviates little from its original route between Woodville and Derby.

Swarkestone Bridge

From Woodville the road sweeps down to Hartshorne before making a long but pleasant climb past Foremark Reservoir, out of view on the left, to the picturesque village of Ticknall. In Ticknall the A514 meets the B5006.

After leaving Ticknall, the A514 again climbs to the high ground – below the East Midlands Airport approach path – to Stanton before sweeping down to cross the Trent by the medieval Swarkestone Bridge. The A514 went from Ticknall to Stanton originally via Melbourne town centre but now effectively bypasses the town by running along the hill ridge of the former B5007. After crossing the river Trent the road makes a sharp right turn near the Crewe & Harper pub (junction with the A5132 from Willington) and, after a mile, reaches a roundabout interchange with the A50Derby Southern Bypass at J3. After the exit from the A50 roundabout, the A514 continues into Chellaston and towards Derby City Centre.

A feasibility study was made in 2010 about the bypass of Swarkestone Bridge, and the villages of Stanton and Swarkestone. It found three routes to be feasible. The Swarkestone and Stanton bypass was listed as a potential major project in the consultation for Derbyshire's next Local Transport Plan.

Chellaston - Derby City Centre

The A514 is the main road through the Southern Derby suburbs including Chellaston, where it goes through two sets of traffic lights, one a pedestrian crossing outside Chellaston School, and another set at the junction with Station Road and High Street, the latter leading towards Alvaston and the A6 roundabout. Through most of Chellaston the A514 is known as Swarkestone Road; however, after the Station Road and High Street junction it becomes Derby Road.

Shortly after the Station Road and High Street Junction, the A514 negotiates a small roundabout junction with Parkway and Maple Drive, the main roads through two of Chellaston's numerous housing estates.

Further down the A514, the road enters Shelton Lock (named after part of the Derby Canal, now a cycle path), passing a GATSO camera, a pub, The New Bridge Inn, and an Esso petrol station. From here until Allenton the A514 is also called Chellaston Road. After this the A514 reaches a signalised junction with Boulton Lane and Merril way, the latter leading to one of Derby's major employers, Rolls-Royce, and also to Sinfin. At this point the A514 reaches Allenton. (From here the rest of the A514 to Derby is also the route of the 61 bus). Allenton is often very busy, as for some reason it is a favourite shopping destination for the elderly, and consequently the A514 is very busy.

Mitre Island

In Allenton, the A514 reaches the Mitre (or Spider - named after the unusual footbridge) Island, and the junction with the A5111 which is Derby's Outer Ring Road. The Mitre Island is a small signalised roundabout. From here the remainder of the A514 is named Osmaston Road. A few hundred metres after the Spider Island, the A514 meets Ascot Drive, a busy road through an industrial estate which links the A514 to Pride Park and the A6. The road then runs through the Pear Tree area of the city, where it meets Litchurch Lane at a signalised junction, with a short section of bus lane on the left.

The road then meets Douglas Street (leading to the Normanton area of the city) and Reginald Street at signalised junctions, with a short section of D1, one side having a lane for normal traffic and a bus lane, the other having one lane, with another, narrow lane, hatched out. After this the road meets Derby's Inner Ring Road, the A601, at a roundabout controlled by traffic lights. The A514 ends here but originally continued on to end on the A6 London Road.

History

The A514 has historically taken 3 routes from Stanton to Ticknall.

On the first route, the A514 used to run through the centre of Melbourne. It ran its present course up to the end of Ticknall, where it diverged from its present route off to the right, then ran along to the top of Robinson's Hill, before descending Robinson's Hill and turning right and running through the centre of the town.

The next route was the same as the first one, except it did not run through the centre of Melbourne: instead the A514 did not descend Robinson's Hill and run through the town centre, instead it ran down Cockshut Lane thereby bypassing Melbourne (whose centre can get quite congested with many cars parked on the streets)

The A514 was then rerouted along the route of the defunct B5007 in the early 1970s.

At the other end, the A514 used to run further into the centre of Derby, meeting the A6 at The Spot, which was where the A514 used to end.

There is the possibility that the A514 was planned originally to run from the A515 at Yoxall along what is now the B5016 to the original A38 crossroads at Barton Turns, and, after bridging the Trent at Walton, continue along currently unclassified roads to the A444 at either Cadley Hill or High Cross Bank, Castle Gresley. The poor state of the river bridge in the 1920s would have made this difficult, as indeed the one lane Bailey construction does today. Local development plans include provision for a new, HGV friendly, bridge over the river to the north of the existing one, which could bring about an extension of the A514 to Yoxall in the future.

Parts of the A514, at least from central Derby to Chellaston, were a turnpike road. The A514 through Chellaston became a turnpike in 1856.